In Light of Eternity

My family and I are currently traveling and visiting with family for the Thanksgiving holiday. I enjoy seeing my extended family on both sides, but one of the aspects of travel I love the most are those conversations that happen in the front seat between me and my wife (when she’s awake, that is).

This past weekend, we entered a rather deep discussion about how meaningless things are “in light of eternity.” That is, in the grand scheme of things, if our lives on this earth are 60 or 80 years, or even 100 years long, what is that in comparison with forever?

Imagine how detached we would become to this world if we added the phrase “in light of eternity” to everything we said on a daily basis. How would it make us stop and think?

Wow, this new Mac is awesome in light of eternity.

Sure hated wasting two minutes in a long line in light of eternity.

Putting in 80 hours this week sure will pay off in light of eternity.

I think that phrase kind of stops us in our tracks and causes us to ask the question… what really matters in light of eternity?

On the other hand…

This hour of quality time with my child was awesome in light of eternity.

Spending my morning carrying groceries out at the food pantry was rewarding in light of eternity.

The minor inconvenience of rush hour traffic is nothing in light of eternity.

Now those make more sense. I closed our conversation (as my wife faded into sleep again) with this probing question: Why do we get so attached to the decorations in the waiting room?